Official Luthiers Forum!

I've seen threads about mahogany vs alder, etc. Some members believe the choice of wood is extremely important to tone while others believe it simply colors the tone. Other's talk about insuring that the wood is stable without defining what stable means when using wood. Is this simply referring to dryness and a good straight piece of wood? This is not my main question however.

My main question is this: Can the forum speak to what you look for when picking out a piece of wood? I mean in actually going to a yard and sorting through a pile of mahogany or alder or whatever; tapping each piece, looking at the grain, etc. What makes one piece of mahogany, or alder, basswood, poplar, maple, walnut, etc, better than the next? Not interested in cosmetics here...simply tone.

Thanks, Colin.

ive only been building for a little while but have tapped my way through a few piles of tone wood picking out materials. and what i usually am listening for is not really tone. tone you can almost tell just from what species your going looking at like a softer mellow sounding wood like koa vs a more dense rosewood deep and rich sounding.
I'm listening more for a ringing sound, some sustain in the piece of wood that tells me its got some musical ability. I personally cant judge the tone of a finished instrument based on the tone of a tapped unworked piece of wood because your gonna change the pitch of that tap tone while thicknessing, and after bracing and again after you have finished carved your braces. and as far as looking at the wood and being able to tell its pretty much impossible, if its quarter sawn, straight grained and free of defects thats a good sign that it could be used as guitar wood.